ǪrvOdd Lv 11^VIII (Ǫrv 44)

Sigurðr, vartu eigi         þar er sex hruðum
hábrynjuð skip         fyr Hólmsnesi.
Vartu ok eigi         vestr með Skolla,
þá er Engla gram         aldri næmðum.

Sigurðr, vartu eigi, þar er hruðum sex hábrynjuð skip fyr Hólmsnesi. Vartu ok eigi vestr með Skolla, þá er næmðum gram Engla aldri.

Sigurðr, you were not there where we cleared six armoured ships before Hólmsnes. Nor were you in the west with Skolli, when we deprived the ruler of the English of life.

Mss: 7(54v), 344a(21v), 343a(77r), 471(88v) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] Sigurðr: Sjólfr 471;    eigi: so all others, ei 7    [2] sex: so 471, ‘vi’ 7, 343a, ‘sꜹx’ 344a;    hruðum: ‘rꜹdum’ 344a    [3] hábrynjuð skip: hardla snarliga 344a, hábyrðuð skip 343a    [4] Hólms‑: haugs‑ 344a, hauks‑ 343a, hvarfs‑ 471    [5] ok: om. 344a, 471    [8] næmðum: námum 344a

Editions: Skj AII, 299, Skj BII, 319, Skald II, 170; Ǫrv 1888, 162, Ǫrv 1892, 80-1, FSGJ 2, 315; Edd. Min. 67.

Context: As for Ǫrv 43. There is no intervening prose between the two stanzas.

Notes: [All]: The incident with Skolli referred to in this stanza is narrated in ch. 25 of the saga (Ǫrv 1888, 85-7; Ǫrv 1892, 44-6) and also referred to in Ævdr 30 (Ǫrv 100). After a return visit to Ireland, where Oddr marries Ǫlvǫr (see Introduction to Ǫlvǫr Lv 1 (Ǫrv 4)), Oddr and Hjálmarr sail to England, and they learn that a viking named Skolli is lying at anchor there with forty ships. He has a grudge against the reigning king of the English, named as Játmundr (Edmund) in some mss, because the king has killed his father. Oddr, who initially intended to fight Skolli, joins him, and their combined forces succeed in conquering the English army and killing their king. Skolli takes over the kingdom, after Oddr and Hjálmarr have refused to accept it. — [3] hábrynjuð skip ‘armoured ships’: The adj. hábrynjuðr ‘armoured’ occurs several times in poems describing warships and sea battles in late Viking-Age poetry; cf. Þfagr Sveinn 4/4^II, Steinn Óldr 13/4^II and ÞjóðA Har 5/7^II. Jesch (2001a, 157-9) argues that this cpd adj. does not imply the use of armour-plating on Viking-Age ships, for which there is no known evidence, but rather refers to the protection given to the ships by the rows of shields arranged along the shield-rail. She also suggests that the element há- does not mean ‘high’, but derives from the noun hár ‘oarport, rowlock’. Both Skj B and Skald prefer 343a’s reading hábyrðuð ‘with a high side or gunwale’, a cpd not otherwise attested. — [4] Hólmsnesi ‘Hólmsnes’: Lit. ‘island-headland’, an otherwise unknown p. n. Both Skj B and Skald prefer 343a’s Hauksnes ‘Haukr’s headland’, likewise unknown. — [6] með Skolla ‘with Skolli’: See Note to [All]. The pers. n. Skolli, probably originally a nickname (Janzén 1947b, 44-5), means lit. ‘skulking one, fox’. As a common noun skolli can also mean ‘trickery’ (cf. Hharð Lv 8/6^II).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
7. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
8. Janzén, A. 1947b. Personnavne. Nordisk Kultur VII. Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen: Bonniers, Aschehoug and Schultz.
9. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
10. Internal references
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Lausavísur 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 49-50.
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Steinn Herdísarson, Óláfsdrápa 13’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 378-9.
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 316.
14. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Haraldr Sigurðarson’s leiðangr 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 155-6.
15. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 100 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 911.
16. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 4 (Ǫlvǫr, Lausavísa 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 813.
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 43 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 10)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 856.